Disney workers poised to reject contract

Associated Press

Published Friday, June 15, 2001

LAKE BUENA VISTA -- Workers from six unions at Walt Disney World were expected Thursday to reject a contract proposal that they say falls too short of their demands on wages, pensions and health insurance.

The contract covers almost 25,000 of Disney World's 55,000 employees, including those who play Mickey Mouse, Snow White and other costumed characters. Also included are bus drivers, hotel and restaurant employees, laundry workers, lifeguards, seamstresses and animal caretakers.

''Always, they give us little,'' said Orlando Ortiz, a Disney World bus driver who voted against the proposal because it increases his health insurance copayment. ''Every year, they take more and more out.''

Harvey Totzke, president of the Service Trades Council, the umbrella group for the unions, has called the proposal ''a slap in the face.''

''It's not fair,'' said Eric Dauphin, a hotel worker at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. ''They're going to give us some more money, but then they're going to take it back.''

Disney spokeswoman Rena Callahan wouldn't comment on the specifics of the proposal, but said ''We're optimistic that we'll come to an agreement by the end of this process.''

During the last labor negotiations in 1998, Disney workers rejected a contract proposal twice before approving it on the third try. Union leaders had endorsed the 1998 proposal.

Only about half of the eligible workers are actually union members, so the unions don't have the strength to call a successful strike.

A federal mediator likely will be called in next week to help with negotiations.

The unions had been seeking a 16 percent wage increase over the course of the three-year contract.